The 30-year bond
US:30_YEAR
yield climbed 1.5 basis points to 2.994%. The 10-year note
US:10_YEAR
yield rose half a basis point to 1.812%, and the 5-year note yield
US:5_YEAR
rose half a basis point to 0.748%.

Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 1/100 of 1%.

Brian Edmonds, head of interest rates at Cantor Fitzgerald, and other analysts attributed the end-of-day selloff to loosely cited — and ultimately untrue — rumors spread via Twitter that Wall Street Journal reporter Jon Hilsenrath was planning to publish a story about the Federal Reserve moving up timelines to taper some of its asset purchases. While the rumor was untrue, it demonstrated the impact Twitter can have on markets.

“Twitter makes trading more on edge than it’s been,” Edmonds said.

Treasurys had gained on Thursday after a strong auction of 30-year bonds spurred further buying in the market. The Treasury Department sold $16 billion at a yield of 2.98%. The ratio of bids to available supply was at 2.53 times, slightly below the average of 2.61 times over the last 8 auctions. Nonetheless, the auction had strong demand from non-dealers.

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“We had better-than-average demand statistics, with non-dealers taking down 60.1%” compared to an average of 52.4% in recent auctions, said George Goncalves, head of interest-rate strategy at Nomura Securities, in a report.

Nomura gave the auction a rating of B+.

Treasurys were mostly weaker on the day prior to the auction as a result of positive labor data. Initial weekly jobless claims, a gauge of people applying for unemployment-insurance benefits, fell 4,000 to 323,000, the lowest level since January 2008. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected claims to rise to 335,000. This is the latest in a string of positive labor data, following a report last week showing the unemployment rate fell to 7.5%.

After initial gains Thursday, the Treasury market, “turned around this morning, primarily because of strong jobless claims, as well as perhaps a little positioning around the 30-year auction,” said John Canavan, fixed-income analyst at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates.

It is normal for bonds to slip as investors sell holdings to purchase new supply. A rise in yields can indicate positive auction demand, according to Jason Rogan, managing director of U.S. Treasury trading with Guggenheim Partners, who had been hoping for a 3% coupon on the bonds.

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